god a go go part 1

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In the early days of GOD, both Mugwump & Danny Rockett aspired to integrate other mediums into the theatrics of the band's live show. The most ambitious and fully realized of these aspirations was the "God-A-Go-Go," which was a multi-media journey of the group's faux creation, rise to fame and subsequent fall from grace. Introducing the show was Mugwump, speaking to the audience from another dimension dubbed "Haderbent Wazhm" (which, sadly, looks just like a TV), who explains how the supergroup GOD can only be created through the audience's active mental participation. As the band then forms onstage, interviews are run on the TV with each member discussing their relationship to music and art. Jason Paige, then an ex-drummer of GOD, was gracious enough to show up with a camera to document some of the preceedings, and many of the video effects and edits featured in this clip were done in-camera.

Ultimately, the show was mounted only twice, and this particular run (its debut) was performed at the basement of The West End (unsurprisingly located on Manhattan's Upper West Side) thanks to our friend Kelly Dwyer who worked there at the time. Approaching 10 minutes in length, there simply wasn't enough time to cover the rescue effort from the band to save Mugwump from the Haderbent Wazhm in this clip. Nor was there time to delve into their subsequent dramas with their manager and their own inner demons. For that, we will have to wait for Part 2 (if not Parts 3 & 4) of "God-A-Go-Go."

Lazy Bones of Rawktober

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Just as quickly as it would begin, it would end. This original composition by Danny Rockett came in the midst of the band's rush to release their upcoming LP, "RAWK!" whilst simultaneously launching their fall tour. In this rare performance during a pre-show warm-up for the crowd that evening, Danny shows a melodic sensitivity and softness that wouldn't be seen much in his follow-up project, Bad Teenage Moustache. The surrounding footage was shot by Mugwump while the group was still early in the tour, and would act to subconsciously plant the seeds for their music video to General Queer.

Watermelon Eat Off on Fire Island

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GOD playing Fire Island would have been strange enough of an occurance in and of itself, but as things so happen, they had been tapped to rock out during an annual summer cook-out/watermelon festival (one key factor was money). And while the group had to clean up the show to play for an all-ages crowd, they still managed to fit in the occasional subversive oddity ("Who here likes getting lifted up into the air?!"). This early incarnation of "Dinomite" shows more of its punk origins, but moreover it shows the group's cross-over appeal when you have toddlers juiced up on watermelon and soda pop thrashing with every available limb on their bodies.